In an Out of the 24 Manditories

Allen arrived at Takotna at 2:34am. He had an excellent run from Nikolai. Really must have felt great after all the craziness that has happened to him.

He got there before Aliy left at 4:52am. Talking to Allen, he says that Aliy’s team looked great leaving the check point. The dogs had been battling a bit of diarrhea but Aliy thought it was under control. She dropped Kingston due to a shoulder injury. He is just a big boy and she just couldn’t afford to carry him.

Her run to Ophir was averaging 10.18mph so the dogs must have been feeling pretty good! She stayed in Ophir long enough to pick up supplies for the long run to Iditarod. I think she will stop and rest on the way. Reports from the trail say that about 9 hours out of Iditarod the trail gets bad again. There is little to no snow over the tundra.

Allen’s team is looking great. He is very happy about the way they are looking and behaving. He doesn’t feel like he has a dog that will need to be dropped in Takotna. They are all eating well and sleeping. He will feed them ever 6 hours or so and try to get some sleep himself over the next few hours.